the exchange the murphy institute tulane university Volume 14, No. 1 Fall 2016 Thirty Years of Core Courses, Core Strengths THE MURPHY INSTITUTE’S POLITICAL ECONOMY PROGRAM has now graduated 30 classes of political economy majors. While they have gone on to work in a variety of careers, they have all benefitted from the political economy program’s core courses, taught by some of Tulane’s leading faculty. Multidisciplinary programs such as the program in Political Economy at The Murphy Institute face the challenge of preserving the integrity of the curriculum in the face of the plethora of electives available to our students. Over the years we have met this challenge by creating and maintaining an effective core of required courses that allow our students to develop skills that reflect each of our constitutive disciplines: Economics, Political Science, Philosophy, and History. Our five-course core Political Economy sequence begins with pecn 3010, Positive Political Economy. Formerly known as Introduction to Political Economy, this course has been retitled to better reflect its content. Positive political economy seeks to understand and predict policy outcomes and political behavior using tools and concepts from economics. Using this approach, the course Select readings from The Murphy’ Institute’s Political Economy program examines how institutional constraints in the continued on next page THIRTY YEARS OF CORE COURSES, CORE STRENGTHS THE MURPHY INSTITUTE (continued from page 1) Core Faculty political environment affect the choices of these actors and the resulting Steven M. Sheffrin, Executive Director, Department of Economics political outcomes. This course is taught most frequently by Professor Mary Olson of the Economics Department. James Alm, Department of Economics Bruce Brower, Department of Philosophy The next course in the sequence is our most popular course among non- Alison Denham, Department of Philosophy majors, pecn 3020, Political Economy: An Historical Overview. Taught Adam Feibelman, Tulane Law School regularly since the inception of our program by Professor Richard Douglas N. Harris, Department of Economics Teichgraeber, former Director of The Murphy Institute, this course is known for the excellent presentation of a demanding range of topics in Ann M. Lipton, Tulane Law School intellectual history in political economy. Beginning with the experience of Eric Mack, Department of Philosophy Europe in the 15th century, it examines what the unprecedented wealth of Douglas R. Nelson, Department of Economics modern Western societies has meant for the understanding and practice of Shu-Yi Oei, Tulane Law School politics. It also explains what caused the economic abundance of Western Mary K. Olson, Department of Economics nations to come into being in the first place, and how that abundance has Jonathan M. Riley, Department of Philosophy been sustained over time. David Shoemaker, Department of Philosophy The depth of our teaching roster allows us to offer multiple sections of Richard F. Teichgraeber III, Department of History another popular course among non-majors, pecn 3030, The Individual, Martyn P. Thompson, Department of Political Science Society, and State. This course presents an integrated philosophical study of Mark Vail, Department of Political Science the main alternatives in political ideology advocated in the modern world. The course delves into the philosophical foundations of ideas concerning Staff justice, freedom, autonomy, and state power. It is taught by an impressive Ruth A. Carter, Program Manager array of faculty members from the Philosophy Department, including John Louis Howard, Associate Director Professors Alison Denham, Jonathan Riley, and David Shoemaker. Margaret M. Keenan, Assistant Director, Our curriculum takes a global perspective in pecn 3040, Comparative and Center for Ethics and Public Affairs International Political Economy. Taught by Professor Doug Nelson of the Jinyoung Park, Assistant Director, Economics Department and Professor Mark Vail of the Political Science Center for Public Policy Research Department, this course presents a multi-faceted view of the relations between economic and political systems. Students in the course attempt to develop an understanding of globalization, develop a comparative analysis THE CENTER FOR E T H I C S of the links between globalization and national outcomes, and examine the AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS international institutions that attempt to manage globalization. Faculty Committee Finally, our capstone course, pecn 6000, Majors Seminar, focuses on a large Bruce Brower, Department of Philosophy theme or question that no single discipline in the program uniquely claims Ronna Burger, Department of Philosophy for its own and no one approach exhausts. Examples of such issues include Richard Culbertson, School of Public Health health care policy and regulation, the rise of the nation state, capitalism and Tropical Medicine and democracy, the foundations of economic behavior, the organization Alison Denham, Department of Philosophy and meaning of work, and industrialization, economic growth, and social change. Our faculty define the issues that most engage them as teachers Stephen Griffin, School of Law and scholars and that sustain a coherent cross-disciplinary course offering. Eric Mack, Department of Philosophy Our faculty teach the seminar on a rotating basis, so the current topic is Mary K. Olson, Department of Economics always fresh and engaging. Graham Owen, School of Architecture Jonathan M. Riley, Department of Philosophy Our first students who graduated from the Political Economy major 30 years ago will recognize these courses. They have provided the foundation Oliver Sensen, Department of Philosophy for an effective multidisciplinary experience that has proven to be lasting David Shoemaker, Department of Philosophy and sustainable. Richard F. Teichgraeber III, Department of History Martyn P. Thompson, Department of Political Science Richard Velkley, Department of Philosophy Steven M. Sheffrin, Executive Director August 2016 2 THE EXCHANGE Fall 2016 2016 UNDERGRADUATE CENTER FOR PUBLIC PROGRAM REVIEW POLICY RESEARCH Program Directors James Alm, Department of Economics, Public Finance FROM THE LOCAL TO THE GLOBAL Douglas Harris, Department of Economics, This year marks a milestone with the first graduating class of the Altman Education Policy Program in International Studies & Business receiving their diplomas at the Mary K. Olson, Department of Economics, Health Policy spring 2016 commencement. The Altman Program is a dual-degree double- Adam Feibelman, Tulane Law School, major program combined with intensive foreign language study and multiple Regulation Policy study-abroad experiences. Students receive a B.S.M. degree in some area of business studies along with a B.A. degree in a liberal arts major. Of the twelve students in this first Altman cohort, four were Political Economy majors: NATHAN BENJAMIN ’16, ETHAN LEVY ’16, KAILA LOPEZ ’16, and EXTERNAL ADVISORY BOARD KATHERINE SMITH ’16. This was an extremely accomplished group of students, meeting the requirements of their challenging program with Michael McPherson (Chair), aplomb. President, Spencer Foundation John Ferejohn, Samuel Tilden Professor of Law, ETHAN LEVY ’16 deserves special mention for the sheer number of New York University ventures and organizational activities in which he participated. He was a Geoffrey Galt Harpham, Director, dual-degree double major in Management and Political Economy with a National Humanities Center minor in Social Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship. Ethan completed an Bonnie Honig, Sarah Rebecca Roland Professor incredible 182 hours of coursework, graduating cum laude, with two full of Political Science, Northwestern University semesters of credits beyond the requirements needed for his dual degree. He somehow managed to find time to be a Center for Public Service Student Stephen Macedo, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Advisory Board member, a Changemaker Institute Accelerator Fellow, Global Values, Princeton University Leadership ExCHANGE Fellow for Social Entrepreneurship, Tulane Entrepreneurs Association Undergraduate Coordinator, Social Innovation Student Advisory Board member, Clinton Global Initiative University Team Leader, co-founder of Startup Tulane, as well as being the founder of his own entrepreneurial venture, FailUp LLC. He participated in and won numerous THE EXCHANGE awards for dozens of competitions and conferences in social innovation and Line 58, Communications Consultant social entrepreneurship. Zack Smith, Photographer Margaret M. Keenan, Contributing Editor NATHAN BENJAMIN ’16 of the Altman Program also made his mark by Jinyoung Park, Contributing Writer receiving a Fulbright Fellowship to Mexico, for a combined binational John Louis Howard, Contributing Writer business and academic program. In addition to Nathan, two other students Franklin Worrell, Contributing Writer from our program received Fulbright Fellowships: SAMUEL FISHMAN ’16 and Editorial Assistant (Venezuela) and ABIGAIL GOODMAN ’16 (Taiwan). This marks the most Fulbright awards our students have received in a single year in recent memory. Send editorial correspondence to The Murphy Institute, 108 Tilton Hall, The international aspects of our program are important to our students. One Tulane University, New Orleans LA 70118 in four of our majors pursues the International Perspectives track (PEIP) in Telephone: